As you can read in the January issue of Texas Medicine , the Texas Medical Association plans to pursue an ambitious agenda when the legislature convenes next month. A tight budget, narrow partisan margins in the Texas House and Senate, and an anticipated all-out assault on scope of practice promise to make the 2009 legislative session particularly challenging for organized medicine.
TMA has prepared for the session by developing " Doctor's Orders: TMA's Prescription for a Healthy Texas ." It lays out the association's plan, including efforts to:
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Two TMA committees are working on legislative solutions for both state and national health system issues. The select committees on National Health System Reform and on Medicaid, CHIP, and the Uninsured met jointly and in separate work sessions to tackle health system reform legislation that the incoming U.S. Congress and the 2009 state legislative session likely will address. The groups discussed national system reform proposals emerging from the U.S. Senate and President-Elect Barack Obama, and Texas Medicaid , the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the uninsured .
Chairs of the two select committees, respectively, are Doug Curran, MD, of Athens, and John Holcomb, MD, of San Antonio. Both select committees will have initial recommendations ready to go for the TMA Board of Trustees and the Council on Legislation before the legislature and Congress begin their 2009 sessions.
Action , Jan. 6, 2009
Last Updated On
August 09, 2010
Originally Published On
March 23, 2010